Document editing system and method of preparing a tag information management table

ABSTRACT

A document editing system is described and is to solve a problem of a background technology, that is, a problem of incapability of distinguishing, a plurality of document areas which are nested or which partially overlap and are specified through use of tags of the same type. Document area management means and tag management means assign nonoverlapping, unique IDs to arbitrary document areas, wherewith a tag information management table for managing document areas is retained in the document editing system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priorityunder 35 USC §120 from U.S. application Ser. No. 09/580,454, filed May30, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a document editing system and a methodof preparing a tag information management table for use in editing adocument.

2. Description of the Related Art

In the case of a commonly known markup language, such as HTML or XML,when an arbitrary, non-empty document area within a target document is,specified, markup indicating a start position is inserted at the startposition of the document area, and markup indicating an end position isinserted at the end position of the document area. In the followingdescription, a symbol which acts to insert at an arbitrary positionwithin a document is called a “tag.” A document area located between astart tag for specifying the start position of a document area desiredto be specified and an end tag for specifying an end position isidentified as a specified document area by a processor capable ofunderstanding the markup language used for describing the document. Thestart tag and the end tag are of the same type and are paired up witheach other.

In a case where a document area specified by a paired start and end tagis nested into another document area specified by a paired start and endtag of the same type or where one document area partially overlapsanother document area, a processor areas specified within an arbitraryarea of the document and managing the document areas along withattributes assigned thereto;

tag management means for managing generation and deletion of a tag pair,that is, a start tag and an end tag, which uniquely correspond to eachother and specify a document area; and

document editing means for editing a character sequence provided in thedocument while information about the specified document area within thedocument is retained or updated.

Accordingly, the present invention enables specifying of a plurality ofdocument areas which are nested or which partially overlap, through useof tags of the same type. Therefore, there is embodied an environmentwhere document areas can be uniquely distinguished from one another,thereby significantly improving the degree of freedom in appendingattributes to the document and enabling the user to flexibly edit adocument.

Further, the present invention provides a document editing system forediting a document in a computer, the system comprising:

document area management means for discriminating a plurality of typesof document areas or a plurality of document areas specified within anarbitrary area of the document and managing the document areas alongwith attributes assigned thereto;

tag management means for managing generation and deletion of a tag pair,that is, a start tag and an end tag, which uniquely correspond to eachother and specify a document area;

document editing means for editing a character sequence provided in thedocument while information about the specified document area within thedocument is retained or updated;

link management means for performing a management operation so as tolink one or a plurality of documents to the specified document area andpassing information about the link to the document area managementmeans; and

linked document output means for outputting the document linked by thelink management means, by reference to information about the documentarea managed by the document area management means.

Further, the present invention provides a document editing system forediting a document in a computer, the system comprising:

document area management means for accurately discriminating a pluralityof document areas specified within the entirety of the document orarbitrary portions thereof and managing the document areas along withattributes assigned thereto;

tag management means for managing generation and deletion of a tag pair,that is, a start tag and an end tag, which uniquely correspond to eachother and specify a document area;

document editing means for editing a character sequence provided in thedocument while information about the specified document area within thedocument is retained or updated;

display format management means for managing an arbitrary display formatassigned to the document area managed by the document management means;and

document output means for outputting the document managed by thedocument area management means, in an arbitrary expression formatprovided in the display format management means.

The present invention also provides a document editing system forediting a document in a computer, the system comprising:

document area management means for accurately discriminating a pluralityof document areas specified within the entirety of the document orarbitrary portions thereof and managing the document areas along withattributes assigned thereto;

tag management means for managing generation and deletion of a tag pair,that is, a start tag and an end tag, which uniquely correspond to eachother and specify a document area;

document editing means for editing a character sequence provided in thedocument while information about the specified document area within thedocument is retained or updated;

processing interface management means for performing a managementoperation so as to relate an arbitrary process to the specified documentarea such that a trigger for executing the process is set for thespecified document, as well as to pass information about the link to thedocument area management means; and

a processing library for storing, such as a library, the arbitraryprocesses linked to the specified document area by the processinginterface management means.

The present invention provides a method of preparing a tag informationmanagement table for editing a document, the method comprising:

a character string selection determination step of determining whetheror not an arbitrary character string within a document is selected;

a tag information acquisition step of, in a case where in the characterstring selection determination step it is determined that the characterstring is selected, acquiring information about the kind of tagsassigned to a document area and information about the position of astart tag and that of an end tag;

an ID assignment step of assigning nonoverlapping tag IDs to therespective tag information pieces acquired in the tag informationacquisition step; and

a tag information management table storage step of storing into a taginformation management table for use in editing a document, a linkbetween the tag IDs assigned to the tags in the tag ID assignment stepand the tag information pieces acquired in the tag informationacquisition step.

Thus, there is provided a tag information management table for enablingunique discrimination of a plurality of document areas which partiallyoverlap.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of adocument editing system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration showing an example in which document areaswhich are nested and overlap, according to the embodiment shown in FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is an illustration showing an example in which document areaswhich partially overlap, according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an illustration showing an example access to a tag informationmanagement table of document area management means 1 according to theembodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an illustration showing an example tag information managementtable according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of operation performed by tagmanagement means 2 according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an illustration depicting assigning of a tag to a documentarea according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a processing flow chart according to which a compositedocument file according to the first embodiment is output;

FIG. 9 is a processing flow chart according to which a tag informationmanagement table according to the first embodiment is prepared;

FIGS. 10A and 10B are illustrations depicting an example operation forediting a composite document according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a processing flowchart depicting the processing of documentediting means 3 according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 is an illustration depicting an example display screen about anoperation for relating another document to the composite documentaccording to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the flow of an operation for displayingthe document linked to the composite document according to theembodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 14A and 14B are illustrations depicting an example screen displayfor displaying information about the document linked to the compositedocument according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 15 is an illustration depicting an example screen display fordisplaying the composite document according to the embodiment shown inFIG. 1 in a specified display format;

FIG. 16 is an illustration depicting an example screen display forsetting a document area in the composite document according to theembodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 17A and 17B are illustrations depicting an example screen displayfor displaying the composite document according to the embodiment shownin FIG. 1 in a specified display format;

FIG. 18 is an illustration depicting an example screen display forembedding a trigger for executing a specified processing operation intothe document area of the composite document according to the embodimentshown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 19 is an illustration depicting an example screen display forperforming the process specified for the document area of the compositedocument according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 20 is an illustration depicting a link between a commonly knowncomposite document and a table;

FIG. 21 is an illustration depicting a problem arising in handling thecommonly known composite document;

FIG. 22 is an illustration depicting an example link between a compositedocument and a table according to the present invention; and

FIG. 23 is an illustration showing the static structure of a compositedocument according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A document editing system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention will now be described in detail by reference to theaccompanying drawings. An important term used in the followingdescription is defined as follows:

A “composite document” is a document which, in its entirety or inarbitrary positions, can be linked to another document (1); for which anarbitrary display format is set (2); and for which a trigger is set forrelating arbitrary processing to the document or for executing arbitraryprocessing (3).

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram showing a composite document whoseinternal areas are assigned attributes. As shown in FIG. 20, arbitrarydocument areas within the document (i.e., a document area A, a documentarea B, and a document area C) are assigned respective attributes(attribute A, attribute B, and attribute C). Information about theattributes assigned to the corresponding document areas is staticallyretained, thereby enabling reference to the attributes assigned to therespective document areas. In the example shown in FIG. 20, theinformation about attributes is expressed as a table for retaining linksbetween the document areas and their assigned attributes.

Even in the case of a commonly known markup language, such as HTML,attributes can be assigned to a document area by means of attaching atag to the document area. However, for a reason to be described later,it cannot necessarily be said that the degree of freedom in assigningattributes to the commonly known markup language is high. In a casewhere an overlap exists between arbitrary document areas within adocument assigned attributes of the same type, the boundary between thedocument areas becomes indefinite. FIG. 21 shows a static structure, inwhich document areas assigned attributes of the same type are expressedthrough use of tags. As is obvious from FIG. 21, if the document areasare expressed through use of tags of the same type, the document areascannot be definitely specified. For example, an end tag to be paired upwith the start tag of the document area C can be also taken as the endtag of the document area B.

To solve such a problem, unique numbers (IDs) which prevent an overlapamong the document areas within the document shown in FIG. 20 areassigned to the document areas. As a result, the table shown in FIG. 20is rewritten as shown in FIG. 22. Addition of unique, nonoverlappingnumbers (IDs) results in an increase in the amount of data pertaining tothe table holding the information about the links between document areasand their assigned attributes. In FIG. 22, the attributes shown in FIG.20 are divided into the types of attributes linked to document area andattribute values thereof In this example, numerals 1, 2, and 3 are usedas unique numbers (IDs) for specifying tag pairs. Any type ofidentifiers may be used, so long as the identifiers are nonoverlappingand unique.

The table is additionally provided with unique, nonoverlapping numbers(IDs) and holds the information about the links between the documentareas and their assigned attributes. FIG. 23 shows a staticstructure—expressed through use of tags. In contrast with the staticstructure shown in FIG. 21, the static structure shown in FIG. 23enables unique identification of a tag pair defining each document area,through use of unique, nonoverlapping numbers (IDs) assigned to—arespective start tag and a respective end tag.

The document editing system of the present invention supports acomposite document and editing thereof, by means of enablingidentification of arbitrary document areas within a document assignedtags. The document editing system has one or more fields or windows forexpressing a composite document, and texts having the characteristic ofthe composite document are displayed in the fields or windows. Thefollowing descriptions are based on a case where, by way of an example,a composite document comprising source codes, such as a C languagedocument, is taken as a document.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of thedocument editing system of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the document editing system comprises document areamanagement means 1; tag management means 2; document editing means 3;link management means 4; a linked document storage device 5; linkeddocument output means 6; display format management means 7; documentoutput means 8; processing interface management means 9; and aprocessing library 10.

In the document editing system,

(1) the document area management means 1, the tag management means 2,the document editing means 3, the link management means 4, the linkeddocument storage device 5, and the linked document output means 6 areinvolved in relating a document with another document;

(2) the document area management means 1, the tag management means 2,the document editing means 3, the display format management means 7, andthe document output means 8 are involved in selecting an arbitrarydisplay format; and

(3) the document area management means 1, the tag management means 2,the document editing means 3, the processing interface management means9, and the processing library 10 are involved in setting a trigger forrelating arbitrary processing to a document area. Thus, the documentediting system supports a composite document.

The document area management means 1 stores tag information forsupporting the composite document which has been defined previously, andmanages document areas within a composite document by means of managingaccesses to the information, such as writing or reference.

The tag management means 2 manages the user of the document editingsystem in assigning tags to arbitrary document areas. In a case where atag is added or assigned to a document area, a tag attribute value foruniquely specifying a start tag and an end tag, a tag attribute valuerepresenting the title of a document area, and tag attribute values ofthe document area are added to the tag information. If necessary,extended tag attributes may be added to the tag information. Theinformation about the document assigned the tag is passed to thedocument area management means 1. In a case where a tag is deleted, thestart and end tags to be deleted are specified on the basis of the tagattribute values allocated to the start and end tags, and the taginformation about the document area whose tags have been deleted ispassed to the document area management means 1, thereby releasing thecorresponding document area.

By means of the document area management means 1 and the tag managementmeans 2, nonoverlapping, unique numbers (IDs) are assigned to arbitrarydocument areas, as mentioned previously. A table for managing thedocument areas is retained in the document editing system. As a result,the document editing system can assign tags to arbitrary document areaswithin a composite document for allocating attributes to correspondingdocument areas.

The document area management means 1 can specify, as a document area tobe managed, a document area A in which another document B is nested, asshown in FIG. 2, or document areas A and B partially overlapping eachother. Such a function of the document area management means 1 differsfrom a function for indicating hypertext as typified by a commonly knownHTML browser.

In an overlapping document area between the document area A and thedocument area B shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, information about the start andend tags of the document area A and information about the start and endtags of the document area B are embedded in the overlapping documentarea. Further, by means of combination of patterns of overlappingbetween document areas such as those shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, thedocument area management means 1 allows any type of combination ofpatterns of overlapping among a plurality of document areas.

In a case where the user of the document editing system subjects acomposite document to text editing, the document editing means 3 managesa change in the document area specified by the tags, which are embeddedin the document managed by the document area management means 1, andpasses the resultant updated tag information to the document areamanagement means 1. In a case where a document area assigned a tag isdeleted in the course, of editing of the document, the document editingmeans 3 specifies the start and end tags assigned to the document areato be deleted, by means of the tag management means 2 and on the basisof the attributes values assigned to the respective tags. The resultantupdated tag information is passed to the document area management means1, thus releasing the corresponding document region.

The link management means 4 manages the document linked with the taggeddocument areas managed by the document area management means 1.

The linked document is stored in the linked document storage device 5,and the link management means 4 manages a pointer to the linkeddocument. In response to a request for displaying a linked document, thelink management means 4 refers to the linked document and passesinformation about the linked document to the linked document outputmeans 6. In many cases, the linked document storage device 5 is embodiedby a mass-storage device provided in a personal computer or aworkstation or BY a mass-storage device connected to a network.

The display format management means 7 manages the display format of acomposite document in accordance with the attributes of the taggeddocument areas, the attributes being specified by the tags. The displayformat management means 7 determines the display format specified by theuser of the document editing system. On the basis of the attributes ofthe tagged document areas managed by the document area management means1, the display format management means 7 changes the format of displayof the composite document and passes to the document output means 8information about the thus changed display format.

In order to assign to an arbitrary area within a document an attributefor performing a predefined process, the processing interface managementmeans 9 relates a predefined process to the document area specified bythe user of the document editing system. If necessary, the processinginterface management means 9 receives an input of an initial value andsets and manages a trigger for performing a predefined process,according to the type of the predefined process. The predefined processis stored, as a file described in a script, in the processing library10. In many cases, the processing library 10 is embodied by amass-storage device provided in a personal computer or by a workstationor a mass-storage device connected to a network.

The operation of the document editing system of the present inventionwill now be described.

First, the operation of the document area management means 1 of thedocument editing system will be described by reference to correspondingdrawings.

As mentioned previously, the principal role of the document areamanagement means 1 is to internally hold a table for managing documentareas. As shown in FIG. 4, by means of a tag, by means of access, aswill be described later, the document area management means 1 managesanother means in adding, changing, or deleting information about thedocument area which is stored in the table and assigned an attribute.

Here, the table for managing document areas is called tag informationmanagement table and will be described by reference to the drawing. Asshown in FIG. 5, the tag information management table is provided with adeclaration indicating the kind of tag. As attribute values of the tag,there are held a tag ID number (tag id), the title of a document areawhich is to be assigned the tag (title), an index indicating the startposition of the document area which is to be assigned the tag (startindex), an index indicating the end position of the document area whichis to be assigned the tag (end index), and other attribute values forextension purposes. The expression “kind of tag” used herein designatesthe kind of tag, such as an anchor tag “<A>” or a font tag “<FONT>,”used in HTML, which is a typical markup language. In the documentediting system, the tag ID number is synonymous with a nonoverlapping,unique attribute value which has already been described as a value tobe—added to a respective start tag and a respective end tag so as toenable unique identification of the start tag and the corresponding endtag, to thereby embody a composite document. Although the example shownin FIG. 5 illustrates a single kind of tag “r,” in actuality there isprepared a table providing a summary of a plurality of kinds of tagsused in a composite document or there are prepared a plurality of tablescorresponding to the respective kinds of tags.

The table, which manages the tag information to be prepared by thedocument area management means 1, is prepared at all times so that thetable can be used at the time of browsing, editing, or reservation of adocument. The document editing system handles a document simultaneouslywith registration of table elements. In association with editing of adocument, table elements are changed dynamically. Further, inassociation with completion of handling of a document, the elementsregistered in the table are discarded.

The operation of the tag management means 2 of the document editingsystem will be described by reference to corresponding drawings. The tagmanagement means 2 plays a dominant role in the document editing systemof the present invention; specifically, the tag management means 2generates and adds to a document area a nonoverlapping, unique tagattribute required for assigning the feature of a composite document toa plain text.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of operation of the tagmanagement means 2 of the document editing system.

In order to set a document area, a document area to be tagged must beselected from the document displayed by the document editing system.Setting a document area not in existence as an area to be tagged isnonsense and therefore invalid. The tag management means 2 determineswhether or not a character string is selected from the compositedocument (step 600). If it is determined that a character string has notyet been selected, a tagging operation is ended. In contrast, if it isdetermined that a character string has been selected, the tag managementmeans 2 acquires information about a start index and an end indexpertaining to the thus selected character string; i.e., a document area(step 601).

The tag management means 2 acquires information about the kind of tagspecified by the user and receives an extended attribute value if theattribute value is required by the type of tag (step 602), thuspreparing a nonoverlapping, unique tag ID number (step 603). The tagmanagement means 2 sends to the user an inquiry about the title of adocument area to be specified. In a case where the user enters thetitle, a character string representing the title is acquired as adocument information title (step 604). In contrast, in a case where theuser does not enter a title, the tag management means 2 acquires adefault character string defined by the specified tags (step 605).Finally, the information pieces (the king of a tag, the tag ID number,the start index of the document area, the end index of the documentarea, and the extended attribute value) which have been acquired by thetag management means 2 thus far are passed, as a collective informationpiece, to the document area management means 1. The document areamanagement means 1 registers, as table elements, the thus received taginformation into the tag information management table, which is shown inFIG. 5 and has already been described (step 606). As a result ofpreparation of such a tag information management able within thedocument editing system, the document editing system enables handling ofa document characterized as a composite document.

An output of composite document file is used in storing a plain text asa document file (i.e., a composite document file) having a staticstructure of a composite document, by mean of sequentially insertingtags into the plain text according to the information stored in the taginformation management table internally stored in the document editingsystem.

FIG. 7 is an illustration showing allocation of tags while the elementsprovided in the first row of the tag information management table shownin FIG. 5 are taken as examples. In the example, text information isemployed as an extended tag attribute value. In the case of a simple tagnot having an extended tag attribute value, a tag attribute value forextension purpose is not written into the tag information managementtable. In the case of a tag having another extended tag attribute value,an extended tag attribute value corresponding to the kind of tag iswritten into the tag information management table. Further, in the caseof a tag having a plurality of extended tag attribute values, theextended tag attribute values are consecutively written into the taginformation management table while being separated from one anotherthrough use of delimiters.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of an operation in which thedocument editing system outputs a composite document file in accordancewith the tag information management table.

A determination is made as to whether or not tag information is storedin the tag information management able (step 801). If no tag informationis stored, a plain text file is output (step 802). In contrast, if taginformation is stored, a tagged document area is present as a compositedocument. Tags corresponding to the kinds of tags held as elements inthe tag information management table, such as those provided in theexample shown in FIG. 7, are assigned to the plain text information atthe position of a start index and at the position of an end index of thetagged document area stored in the tag information management table(step 803).

In the case of tags being assigned to a file to be output, attributevalues of the tags must be written. In the case of a start tag, anonoverlapping, unique ID number is added to the right side of a symbolindicating the kind of tag while a delimiter, such as a space, isinterposed between the symbol and the ID number. The ID number isfollowed by the title of the tagged document area, and an attributevalue for extension purpose while the symbol and the ID number arespaced apart from each other through use of a delimiter, such as aspace. In the case of an end tag, a symbol indicating an end tag, suchas “/” is assigned to the left side of the symbol indicating the kind oftag. The symbol indicating the kind of tag is followed by the same tagID number as that appended to the right side of the start tag, while thesymbol and the ID number are spaced apart from each other through use ofa delimiter, such as a space. Appending the tag attribute to the end tagis the feature of the present invention which is not employed in thecommonly known markup language.

Insertion of a tag is repeated in correspondent with the number ofdocument area information pieces stored in the tag informationmanagement table, to thereby prepare a composite document file. The thusprepared composite document file is output (step 804).

By reference to the drawings, there will now be described the flow of anoperation in which the document editing system analyzes tag informationon the basis of the document file (i.e., a composite document file)which already has the static structure of a composite document andregisters elements in the tag information management table.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in which thedocument editing system analyzes the tags assigned to the compositedocument file and registers elements to the tag information managementtable.

The flow of operation required for analyzing the tags assigned to thecomposite document file, to thereby prepare a tag information managementtable, is as follows.

The composite document file is scanned from the beginning of thedocument to the end thereof so as to find a “tag” or “EOF (End ofFile),” and a buffer is inserted at any location in the charactersequence (step 901). If EOF is found (step 902), it is determined thatno tags are present in the document and that retrieval of the entiredocument has been completed, and processing is terminated.

In a case where a tag is found, a determination is made as to whether ornot the thus found tag is a start tag (step 903). If the tag correspondsto a start tag, the kind of tag is determined (step 204). Following thedetermination, a nonoverlapping, unique tag ID number, the title of adocument area, and an extended tag attribute are acquired, and a startindex of the document area is acquired on the basis of the position atwhich the tag is inserted (step 905). One element of the tag informationmanagement table of the document area management means 1 is prepared(step 906), and information pieces are registered (step 907). At thistime, the end index of the document area still remains unregistered.Subsequently, processing jumps to step 901.

In a case where the found tag is an end tag, the start tag to be pairedup with the end tag has already been retrieved and registered as anelement in the tag information management table. By reference to thekind of tag and the tag ID number assigned to the tag, there isretrieved an element as which the information acquired by the start tagto be paired up with the end tag is registered in the tag informationmanagement table. The location at which the end tag is inserted isregistered in a blank in which the end index of the document region hasnot yet been registered (step 908). The entries for all the elements arenow filled.

As a result of the foregoing operations being repeated until EOF isfound, acquisition of plain text information from which tags are removedand registration, into the tag information management table, of elementsfor embodying a composite document are completed. The thus acquired textinformation is displayed by the document editing system, as in the caseof a commonly known editor.

There will now be described the editing of a composite documentperformed by the document editing system.

The information about the tag information management table havingelements registered therein is automatically changed by the tagmanagement means 2 and the document editing means 3 in association withtext editing of the composite document displayed by the document editingsystem. It has already been stated that, as a result of tags beingassigned to an arbitrary document area, the tag management means 2additionally registers elements in the tag information management table.Further,-the tag management means 2 changes the document areas of thecomposite document which have already been assigned tags or deletestagging information about the tagged document area. FIGS. 10A and 10Bshow an example operation in which the document editing system edits thetagged document areas of the composite document.

The document editing system has a menu for enabling editing of a taggeddocument area or the function of receiving an input entered by the userby means of key-operation of a so-called shortcut key. In an exampleshown in FIG. 10A, there is selected a “retrieval of a tagged area”which is a sub-menu item of an “edition” menu provided in a menu barlocated at an upper position of the document editing system, therebyindicating a dialog-box “retrieval of a document area in the vicinity ofa cursor.” The dialog box “retrieval of a document area in the vicinityof a cursor” has a field in which the user can specify the kind of tagto be retrieved. After having specified the kind of tag, the userretrieves a tagged document area existing in the vicinity of a cursorwhich is currently located within the composite document, by means ofpressing a “next retrieval” button. If a document area matching theretrieval conditions is not found, a warning message “No document areamatching the retrieval conditions is found” is indicated. In contrast,if the document area matching the retrieval conditions is found, thetitle of the tagged document area is indicated in a field “Title of aretrieved document area.” Further, when the “Next retrieval” button ispressed, the title of the next candidate tagged document area isindicated. In the composite document display field of the documentediting system, the thus retrieved and tagged document area ishighlighted by means of, for example, reverse indication. The dialog“retrieval of a document area in the vicinity of a cursor” is terminatedby means of pressing a “Close” button, whereby a highlighted area isleft within the composite document.

FIG. 10B shows a change in the retrieved, highlighted, and taggeddocument area. As shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the highlighted, taggeddocument area is set at the start and end positions of the document areathrough use of a pointer, such as a mouse. The tagged document area canbe freely changed within the composite document by means of moving thepointer. The tag management means 2 processes updating of the taginformation resulting from these operations, by means of accessing andwriting the updated tag information into the tag information managementtable of the document area management means 1. If the tagged documentarea is changed such that the document area has become zero afteroperation of a pointer, it is determined that the tagged document areahas disappeared. In such a case, the tag management means 2 accesses thetag information management table of the document area management means1, to thereby release corresponding tag information and delete thetagged document area.

The operation of the document editing means 3 of the document editingsystem will now be described by reference to corresponding drawings.FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of operation of the documentediting means 3 of the document editing system. The document editingmeans 3 accesses the document area management means 1 each time a changearises in the text information about the composite document, to therebyperform a writing operation for sequentially updating the taginformation management table. The change in the text informationsignifies the editing of a text performed by the document editing systemand is synonymous with operations performed by an ordinary editor, suchas insertion and deletion of characters or a cut-and-paste operation.

In the document editing system, a text being displayed is usually in aneditable state, and updating of a text and updating of the taginformation management table of the document area management means 1must be performed in parallel with each other. For these reasons theprocessing shown in FIG. 11 is repeatedly performed during the course ofediting of a text.

Acquisition of information about the position of a cursor within acomposite document (step 1100) is taken as a point of origin of textediting at which the document editing means 3 initiates processing. Adetermination is made as to whether or not a character string has beenselected (step 1101). If it is determined that a character string hasbeen selected, information about the thus selected character string isacquired (step 1102). A determination is then made as to whether theediting corresponds to addition or deletion of characters (step 1103).In the case of addition of characters, the document editing means 3performs addition of a character string corresponding to the entry of acharacter string, through pasting or addition of a character stringcorresponding to characters entered by way of a character input device(step 1104). Subsequently, the selected character string is deleted(step 1105). A determination is made as to whether or not the taggeddocument area disappears, by means of retrieving tagging informationfrom the tag information management table of the document areamanagement means 1 (step 1106). If tagging information is retrieved, atarget element corresponding to the tagging information is deleted fromthe tag information management table (step 1107). The amount of changesarising in the character indices is computed on the basis of adifference between the character indices before changing of a text andthe character indices after changing of the text, as well as on thebasis of the information about the position of the cursor (step 1108).Finally, the document editing means 3 accesses the tag informationmanagement table of the document area management means 1, to therebyretrieve elements to be updated and update a tag attribute valuecorresponding to the thus calculated amount of changes in the characterindices (i.e., the index of a start tag and the index of an end tag)(step 1112).

If it is determined that a character string has not been selected (step1101), a determination is made as to whether the edition corresponds toaddition or deletion of a character string (step 1109). If the editingcorresponds to deletion of characters (step 1110), processing jumps to adetermination as to whether or not the tagged document has disappeared(step 1106). In contrast, if the editing corresponds to addition of acharacter string, the document editing means 3 performs addition of acharacter string through pasting or addition of a character stringcorresponding to characters entered by way of a character input device,such as a keyboard (step 1111). Processing then jumps to calculation ofthe amount of changes arising in the index of a start tag and the indexof an end tag (step 1108). subsequently, in step 1112 there is performedprocessing which is the same as that performed in the case where acharacter string has been selected in step 1101.

Operation of the link management means 4, that of the linked documentstorage device 5, and that of the document output means 6 in thedocument editing system will now be described by reference tocorresponding drawings.

The document editing system has a menu for relating another document tothe entirety or arbitrary portions of a composite document or thefunction of receiving an input entered by the user by means ofkey-operation of a so-called shortcut key.

FIG. 12 shows an example operation for relating another document to acomposite document. In this example, after selection of a document areadesired to be linked to the composite document, there is selected a“Link setting” which is a sub-menu of an “Editing” menu of the menu bar,to thereby enter a title to be linked in a displayed “addition of anitem” dialogue box. Entry of a path to another file to be linked to thecomposite document or specification of a file through use of a“reference” button is performed, whereupon processing is passed to thetag management means 2. Accordingly, the tag information used forrelating another file to the composite document is registered in the taginformation management table of the document area management means 1.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the flow of operation in which thedocument linked to the composite document is displayed by the linkmanagement means 4, the linked document storage device 5, and the linkeddocument output means 6 of the document editing system.

In the document editing system, the linked document storage device 5holds a plurality of documents linked to the composite document, and thelink management means 4 manages whether to display the documents linkedto the composite document. Further, the linked document output means 6displays information about the documents linked to the compositedocument. In order to implement these operations, the tag for relatingother documents to the composite document is additionally assigned pathsto the documents to be linked, as an extended tag attribute, such as

‘href=“C :/Link_Doc/Link.file.doc”’.

The link management means 4 determines whether or not all the otherdocuments linked to the composite document are displayed (step 1300). Ina case where the user designates all the documents linked to thecomposite document as not being displayed, the position of a pointer,such as a mouse cursor, is monitored at all times (step 1301). Incomparison with the information about a document area linked to anotherdocument, which information has been acquired from the tag informationmanagement table of the document area management means 1 beforehandthrough access (step 1302), if the pointer is located in a document arealinked to other documents, the link management means 4 accesses the taginformation management table of the document area management means 1,thus acquiring paths to all the documents linked to the current positionof the pointer (step 1303) and retrieving linked files from the linkeddocument storage device 5 (step 1304). If no corresponding file isfound, an error occurs. In contrast, if corresponding files are found,information about the files is passed to the linked document outputmeans 6. The linked document output means 6 displays, as a singleinformation piece and in a list, (1) buttons which can be opened byapplication software defining the link of the linked files stored in thelinked document storage device 5 (in fact, the buttons are calledshortcut icons); (2) the titles of linked documents; (3) the number offiles linked to the composite document; (4) the actual file names; and(5) tag ID numbers (step 1305).

If in step 1300 the user designates all the documents linked to thecomposite documents being displayed, monitoring of the position of thepointer in the composite document is not performed, and the linkmanagement means 4 accesses the tag information management table of thedocument area management means 1, thus acquiring information about pathsto all the documents linked to the composite document (step 1306).Subsequently, in the same manner as mentioned previously, the linkeddocument output means 6 displays, in a list, information about all thedocuments linked to the displayed composite document, the informationbeing stored in the linked document storage device 5. Alternatively, allthe documents linked to the displayed composite document may be linkedto an arbitrary document area.

FIG. 14A shows an example screen display, indicating information aboutdocuments linked to a document area in the document editing system in acase where a pointer is located within the document area.

In the drawing, a text is displayed in a list provided on the left sideof the screen display, and information about the documents linked to theposition of the pointer within the text is displayed in a list providedon the right side of the screen display. In view of the characteristicof a composite document, there may be a case where the pointer islocated at any position within a plurality of document areas linked toother documents. In such a case, documents linked to the respectivedocument area are displayed in a right-side list field section.

A “Link Name” column in the right-side list display section shows titlesof documents linked to shortcut icons. A “Count” column shows the numberof documents linked to the composite document, and a “File Name” columnshows actual names of the files stored in the linked document storagedevice 5. A “Tag ID” column shows tag ID numbers stored in the taginformation management table of the document area management means 1.Display or non-display of the right side list field section-in which theinformation about linked documents is to be displayed can be freelyswitched by the user.

FIG. 14B shows an example screen display, indicating information aboutall the documents linked to a composite document in the document editingsystem, in a case where in step 1300 shown in FIG. 13 the user hasspecified all the documents linked to the composite document as beingdisplayed. Since all the documents linked to the composite document aredisplayed, a linked document area of the composite document can bereversely indexed by means of opening a sub-menu, as shown in FIG. 14B,and selecting menu “reverse indication of a linked document area.” In acase where a plurality of document areas of the composite document arelinked to other documents, a sub-menu “reverse indication of the nextdocument area” is selected, to thereby enable sequential reverseindication of linked document areas. In this case, since a linkeddocument entitled “Mount Explanation 2” assumes a count value of 3, itis determined that the document is linked to three document areas withinthe composite document. These three document areas are sequentiallyselected and displayed by means of selecting the sub-menu “Reverseindication of the next document area.”

The operation of the display format management means 7 and that of thedocument output means 8 of the document editing system will now bedescribed by reference to corresponding drawings. The document editingsystem can output a composite document in a prepared display format, inaccordance with the tagging information assigned to the compositedocument. The display format management means 7 and the document outputmeans 8 operate differently according to a display format.

FIG. 15 shows an example display, showing a case where the user canselect and use a display format for displaying an editable text filed inthe form of a pop-up menu, when a predetermined period of time haslapsed since a point, such as a mouse cursor, has entered an arbitrarydocument area within a composite document displayed by the documentediting system or when the document area is clicked or double-clicked bythe mouse cursor. Setting of the requirements for displaying a pop-upmenu can be changed.

The user can switch between activation of the display format anddeactivation of the display format by means of checking a sub-menuu“Pop-up Display” of the menu “Display” provided in the menu bar. Inorder to implement the display format, a tag for assigning to thecomposite document the function of displaying a text field in the formof a pop-up menu is additionally provided with ‘pum=” and the memoedited by the user is stored here as ¥n text information:¥n¥r’ as anextended tag attribute for retaining a memo edited by the user as textinformation.

In the display format shown in FIG. 15, after having received thedesignation of display format from the user, the display formatmanagement means 7 operates in substantially the same manner as thepreviously-described link management means 4. More specifically, thedisplay format management means 7 monitors the position of a pointer,such as a mouse cursor, within the composite document. Further, incomparison with the information about the document area having the memofunction of displaying a text field in the form of a pop-up menu, theinformation having been acquired through access to the tag informationmanagement table of the document area management means 1 in advance, ifit is determined that the pointer is located at the document area havingthe memo function, the display format management means 7 accesses thetag information management table of the document area management means1, to thereby display all text fields to be displayed, in the form of apop-up menu at the current position of the pointer. The informationstored in the respective text field as an extended tag attribute isoutput.

The document editing system has a menu for setting a document areahaving the function of displaying an editable text field in the form ofa pop-up menu, or the function of receiving an input entered by the userby means of key operation of a so-called shortcut key.

FIG. 16 shows an example operation for setting, in composite document, adocument area having the function of displaying an editable text fieldin the form of a pop-up menu. In this example, after selection of adocument area for which a text field is desired to be set, there isselected “Setting of a pop-up memo” which is a sub-menu of an “Editing”menu of the menu bar, to thereby enter a title of memo information in adisplayed “Addition of a pop-up memo” dialogue. As a result, an editabletext field is displayed. The user enters a. text into the displayed textfield, whereby the document area and the entered text information arepassed to the tag management means 2. The tag management means 2registers tag information into the tag information management table.

FIGS. 17A and 17B show example displays, in which the user changes theformat of display of a composite document by selectively switching adisplay format capable of displaying in a summarized form a documentarea sandwiched between braces, the braces constituting an arbitrarypair, within a text (a source code) displayed by the document editingsystem. FIG. 17A shows an example in which the user selects summarizedindication of a text, and FIG. 17B shows an example in which a documentarea, which has already been displayed in a summarized form, is expandedand re-displayed. Here, braces constituting a pair designate a paired“{“and”},” which is consistent as an element of program within thesource code.

The document editing system has a menu for setting a document area to bedisplayed in a summarized form, or the function of receiving an inputentered by the user by means of key operation of a so-called shortcutkey.

The operation of the display format management means 7 employed in theexample shown in FIG. 17A is commenced by the user of the documentediting system invoking or selecting a sub-menu “Summarized display” ofthe “Display” menu provided in the menu bar. In one method, the userselects beforehand the document area defined by braces “{“and”},” whichare consistent as elements of the program within the source code. Inanother method, the user specifies a document area sandwiched between apaired “{“and”},” which are consistent as elements of the program withinthe source code, by means of pointing the “{“ with the cursor pointer,thus enabling unique discrimination of the document area. According toeither of the methods, the document area—which is sandwiched between thebraces being paired up with each other and which the user desires toindicate in a summarized form—is discriminated, and the thusdiscriminated document area is highlighted by means of, for example,reverse indication. As represented by the example shown in FIG. 17A, thedisplay format management means 7 can receive additional informationwith regard to the document area which is desired to be displayed in asummarized form and is sandwiched between the brace pair, by means of adialogue box for receiving an input entered by the user.

After having received the display format specified by the user andaccompanying information, the display format management means 7 passesthe thus received display format and information to the tag managementmeans 2 and the document output means 8.

The tag management means 2 accesses the document area management means1, to thereby prepare one element of the tag information managementtable pertaining to a tag for summarized display purpose. The tag IDnumber and the title of the display area to be displayed in a summarizedform are stored as tag attributes, and a character string located withinthe document area that has been highlighted thus far is stored as anextended tag attribute. At this time, the document area management means1 stores, as elements, information about the start index and end indexof the specified document area, into the tag information managementtable prepared by the tag management means 2.

In the case of a display format for summarizing a document area, thedisplay format specified by the user can, be expressed by means ofreplacing the document area to be displayed in a summarized form with acharacter string of a title provided in a summarized display area.Accordingly, the document output means 8 sends a request to the documentediting means 8 for replacing a document area to be displayed in asummarized form with a character string of a title provided in asummarized display area.

The operation of the display format management means 7 employed in theexample shown in FIG. 17B is commenced by means of the user of thedocument editing system invoking or selecting a sub-menu “Expansion” ofthe menu “display” provided in the menu bar. In one method, the userselects beforehand the document area which has been displayed in asummarized manner. In another method, the user specifies the documentarea which has been displayed in a summarized manner, by means ofpointing the “{“ with the cursor pointer, thus enabling uniquediscrimination of the displayed document area. According to either ofthe methods, the document area-which the user desires to indicate in asummarized form is discriminated. The tag information management tableof the document area management means 1 is accessed, to thereby acquirea character string of the document area which has been saved as anextended tag attribute and is displayed in a summarized manner. The thusacquired character string is passed to and processed by the documentoutput means 8. In the case of expansion of the summarized documentarea, the summarized document area can be expanded by means of merelyreplacing, with a character string saved for summarized display purpose,a summarized display title character string provided within the documentarea which is displayed in a summarized form. The document output means8 sends a request to the document editing means 3 for replacing, with acharacter string saved for summarized display purpose, a summarizeddisplay title character string provided within the document area whichis displayed in a summarized form, thus expanding the document areawhich has been displayed in a summarized manner.

The operation of the processing interface management means 9 and that ofthe processing library 10 of the document editing system will now bedescribed by reference to corresponding drawings. FIG. 18 shows anexample display screen in which, from among predefined process itemswhich are registered in the processing library 10 and provided by way ofthe processing interface management means 9, the user of thedocument-editing system selects a desired processing operation withrespect to an arbitrary document area within a composite document, tothereby impart to the document area an attribute as a trigger forexecuting the thus selected processing operation.

The document editing system has a menu for setting a document areadesired to be linked to any one of the predefined process itemsregistered in the processing library 10, or the function of receiving aninput entered by the user by means of key operation of a so-calledshortcut key.

After the user has selected an arbitrary document area within acomposite document desired to be linked to any one of the predefinedprocess items registered in the processing library 10, the processinginterface management means 9 provided in the example shown in FIG. 18selects a sub-menu “Selection of a process item” of the “Process” menuprovided in the menu bar and displays a “Selection of a process item”dialogue box. The predefined process items registered in the processinglibrary 10 correspond to files written in a script language orexecutable files. In some cases, the predefined process items may beaccompanied by data files. Predefined process items can be freelychanged, or registered in or deleted from the processing library 10.

The “Selection of a process item” dialogue box has the function ofselecting the predefined process items registered in the processinglibrary 10. By means of the function of the processing library 10, theuser can select a desired predefined process and embed, in the selecteddocument area within the composite document, a trigger for executing thethus selected predefined process. In this way, the attribute forexecuting the process linked to the specified document area is appendedto the document area. At this time, the processing interface managementmeans 9 sends a request to the tag management means 2 for registering atrigger required for relating a predefined process to the selecteddocument area within the composite document and executing the thuslinked predefined process. When the tag management means 2 registers taginformation into the tag information management table of the documentarea management means 1, the tag information is additionally providedwith extended tag attributes for relating the specified predefinedprocess with the document area; for example, a tag attribute fordefining a path to the specified predefined process, such as‘href=“C:/Link_Scrip/Test01.cgi”’ and a tag attribute for selecting acorresponding execution trigger assigned to the specified predefinedprocess, such as ‘trig=“1”’. A trigger required for executing apredefined process is dependent on the predefined process itemregistered in the processing library 10.

FIG. 19 depicts an example screen display of the document editingsystem, showing execution of a linked predefined process in response toan event which acts as a trigger set for the document area assigned anattribute for executing the linked predefined process.

In the example shown in FIG. 19, an attributes for executing apredefined process “Loading of test data 1” specified by the user isappended to the specified document area. An event which acts as atrigger for executing a predefined process arises by means of selectinga menu “Loading of test data 1” indicated in the sub-menu “Execution ofselected process” of a pull-down menu with regard to the specifieddocument area.

The processing interface management means 9 accesses the tag informationmanagement table of the document area management means 1, to therebyacquire information about the document area assigned an attribute forexecuting a predefined process linked to the document area and monitoran event which acts as a trigger to be activated by the user. In a casewhere the operation performed by the user triggers a predefined process,a corresponding predefined process is called from the processing library10 and is executed. The result of execution of the predefined process isreturned. Depending on the nature of a predefined process, entry of avalue or data file may be required before execution of a predefinedprocess, or a plurality of execution results or a plurality of types ofexecution results may arise.

The operations of the constituent elements of the document editingsystem of the present invention; namely, the operation of the documentmanagement means 1, that of the tag management means 2, that of thedocument editing means 3, that of the link management means 4, that ofthe linked document storage device 5, that of the linked document outputmeans 6, that of the display format management means 7, that of thedocument output means 8, that of the processing interface managementmeans 9, and that of the processing library 10 have been described thusfar in connection with the respective previously-describedcharacteristics of the composite document, specifically:

(1) a composite document which, in its entirety or in arbitrarypositions, can be linked to another document;

(2) a composite document for which an arbitrary display format is set;and

(3) a composite document for which a trigger is set for relatingarbitrary processing to the document or for executing arbitraryprocessing.

Functions which can be embodied by combination of these features willnow be described by reference to examples <Example Function Embodied bycombination of Characteristics (1) and (2)>

There can be embodied a function of relating a document area specifiedby the user to another document and displaying the thus linked anotherdocument in the same manner as does a memo for effecting a pop-up menuprovided in the example shown in FIG. 15.

Such a function can be embodied by means a document editing system forediting a document in a computer, the system comprising:

document area management means for discriminating a plurality of typesof document areas or a plurality of document areas specified within anarbitrary area of the document and managing the document areas alongwith attributes assigned thereto;

tag management means for managing generation and deletion of a tag pair,that is, a start tag and an end tag; which uniquely correspond to eachother and specify a document area;

document editing means for editing a character sequence provided in thedocument while information about the specified document area within thedocument is retained or updated;

link management means for performing a management operation so as torelate one or a plurality of documents to the specified document areaand passing information about the link to the document area managementmeans;

linked document output means for outputting the document linked by thelink management means, by reference to information about the documentarea managed by the document area management means;

display format management means for managing an arbitrary display formatassigned to the document area managed by the document area managementmeans; and

document output means for outputting the document area managed by thedocument area management means, in an arbitrary expression formationprovided in the display format management means.

Functions which can be embodied by combination of these features willnow be described by reference to examples. <Example Function Embodied bycombination of Characteristics (1) and (3)>

There can be embodied a function of appending to the document areaspecified by the user an attribute for executing a certain predefinedprocess and outputting and reserving an execution result as a file, asin the case of the example shown in FIG. 18, as well as of relating thethus output file to the specified document area as a log file.

Such a function can be embodied by means a document editing system forediting a document in a computer, the system comprising:

document area management means for accurately discriminating a pluralityof types of document areas or a plurality of document areas specifiedwithin an arbitrary area of the document and managing the document areasalong with attributes assigned thereto;

tag management means for managing generation and deletion of a tag pair,that is, a start tag and an end tag, which uniquely correspond to eachother and specify a document area;

document editing means for editing a character sequence provided in thedocument while information about the specified document area within thedocument is retained or updated;

link management means for performing a management operation so as torelate another document to the specified document area and passinginformation about the link to the document area management means;

linked document output means for outputting the document linked by thelink management means, by reference to information about the documentarea managed by the document area management means;

processing interface management means for performing a managementoperation so as to relate an arbitrary process to the specified documentarea such that a trigger for executing the process is set for thespecified document, as well as to pass information about the link to thedocument area management means; and

a processing library for storing, such as a library, the arbitraryprocesses linked to the specified document area by the processinginterface management means.

Example Function Embodied by combination of Characteristics (2) and (3)

There can be embodied a function of appending to a document areaspecified by the user an attribute for setting a display format forprotecting and encrypting the specified document area, for setting apassword for the document area, and for enabling decryption of the thusprotected and encrypted document area through use of only a correctpassword.

Such a function can be embodied by means a document editing system forediting a document in a computer, the system comprising:

document area management means for accurately discriminating a pluralityof document areas specified within the entirety of the document orarbitrary portions thereof and managing the document areas along withattributes assigned thereto;

tag management means for managing generation and deletion of a tag pair,that is, a 30 start tag and an end tag, which uniquely correspond toeach other and specify a document area; document editing means forediting a character sequence provided in the document while informationabout the specified document area within the document is retained orupdated; display format management means for managing an arbitrarydisplay format assigned to the document area managed by the documentmanagement means;

document output means for outputting the document managed by thedocument area management means, in an arbitrary expression formatprovided in the display format management means,

processing interface management means for performing a managementoperation so as to relate an arbitrary process to the specified documentarea such that a trigger for executing the process is set for thespecified document, as well as to pass information about the link to thedocument area management means; and

a processing library for storing, such as a library, the arbitraryprocesses linked to the specified document area by the processinginterface management means.

Example Function Embodied by combination of Characteristics (1), (2),and (3)

There can be embodied a function of:

appending to a document area specified by the user an attribute forshaping the document area according to a certain format, reserving, inthe form of one or a plurality of files, source code relating to thedocument area before and after shaping and log data pertaining to theshaping operation, and

outputting the file;

relating the thus output one file or the plurality of files to thespecified document area as a file(s) for managing a format; and

displaying the specified document area while the source code beforeshaping with the source code after shaping.

Such a function can be embodied by means a document editing system forediting a document in a computer, the system comprising:

document area management means for accurately discriminating a pluralityof document areas specified within the entirety of the document orarbitrary portions thereof and managing the document areas along withattributes assigned thereto;

tag management means for managing generation and deletion of a tag pair,that is, a start tag and an end tag, which uniquely correspond to eachother and specify a document area;

document editing means for editing a character sequence provided in thedocument while information about the specified document area within thedocument is retained or updated;

link management means for performing a management operation so as torelate another document to the specified document area and passinginformation about the link to the document area management means;

linked document output means for outputting the document linked by thelink management means, by reference to information about the documentarea managed by the document area management means;

display format management means for managing an arbitrary display formatassigned to the document area managed by the document management means;

document output means for outputting the document managed by thedocument area management means, in an arbitrary express in formatprovided in the display format management means;

processing interface management means for performing a managementoperation so as to relate an arbitrary process to the specified documentarea such that a trigger for executing the, process is set for thespecified document, as well as to pass information about the link to thedocument area management means; and

a processing library for storing, such as a library, the arbitraryprocesses linked to the specified document area by the processinginterface management means.

As mentioned above, many functions can be embodied by combination of thepreviously-defined characteristics of the composite document. As amatter of course, other various functions may be embodied by combinationof Characteristics (1), (2), and (3) of the composite document while theexpressions of the characteristics are modified.

Although the previous embodiment has described a case where a sourcecode is used as an example composite document, an ordinary documentwritten in, for example, a natural language, other than the source codecan be changed into a composite document, by adoption of the method ofthe present invention. As has been described above, the document editingsystem of the present invention enables an increase in the degree offreedom in specifying a document area to be assigned an attribute whenan arbitrary attribute is assigned to a document. Consequently, relatinganother document to a document, selection of an arbitrary displayformat, embedding an arbitrary process in the document, and combinationthereof can be flexibly handled.

Further, the method of the present invention for preparing a taginformation management table enables specifying of a plurality ofdocument areas which are nested or which partially overlap, through useof tags of the same type, thereby providing a tag information managementtable capable of uniquely discriminating the document areas one fromanother.

1-9. (canceled)
 10. A retrieval method of a document in a computer,comprising: storing in the document a start tag that identifies a startof an arbitrary area in the document and an end tag that identifies anend of the arbitrary area in the document, wherein a unique identifieris attached to the stat tag and the unique identifier is attached to theend tag, said unique identifier being uniquely associated with thearbitrary area in the document identified by the start tag and the endtag, each start and end tag includes an attachment symbol, and saidunique identifier is attached to each start tag and each end tag by theattachment symbol; and retrieving the arbitrary area in the documentidentified by the start tag attached with the unique identifier and theend tag attached with the unique identifier.
 11. The retrieval method ofclaim 10, wherein the retrieving further comprises: identifying a typeof tag to be retrieved; and retrieving the arbitrary area identified bythe type of tag.
 12. The retrieval method of claim 10, wherein theretrieving further comprises retrieving the arbitrary area in thedocument including a first area in the document after a cursor location.13. The retrieval method of claim 10, further comprising: retrieving anext area in the document positioned in the document after the arbitraryarea.
 14. The retrieval method of claim 10, wherein the retrievingfurther comprises displaying a title of the arbitrary area.
 15. Theretrieval method of claim 10, wherein the retrieving further comprisesdisplaying a content of the arbitrary area.
 16. The retrieval method ofclaim 10, wherein the retrieving further comprise displaying a contentof the arbitrary area using a reversed indication.
 17. The retrievalmethod of claim 10, wherein the retrieving further comprising displayinga warning message when the arbitrary area is not located at a positionin the document after a cursor location.
 18. The retrieval method ofclaim 10, further comprising: identifying a desired tag type; anddisplaying a warning message when a next area in the document having thedesired tag type is not positioned in the document after the arbitraryarea.
 19. The retrieval method of claim 10, further comprisingdisplaying a retrieval dialog including an information about thearbitrary area and a desired characteristic of the arbitrary area. 20.The retrieval method of claim 19, wherein the displaying furthercomprises: selecting an item in a menu list; and displaying theretrieval dialog based on the selected item.
 21. The retrieval method ofclaim 19, wherein the displaying further comprises: activating acombination of keys on a keyboard; and displaying the retrieval dialogbased on the activated combination of keys.
 22. The retrieval method ofclaim 19, further comprising: closing the retrieval dialog andmaintaining a display of a content of the arbitrary area after closingthe retrieval dialog.